The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-11-11
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Pointed Discourse in Defense OF
Young Men,
The Value of a Good Home and the Bull
warIx of Power Found in IA Noble
Ideal Religious Principle the
Test of Character.


Men," his text being
And the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man.-II Kings, VI, II.
He said: One morning in Dothan a
young theological student was scared by
finding himself and Elisha, the prophet,
upon whom he waited, surrounded by a
whole army of enemies. But venerable
Elisha was not scared at all, because he
saw the mountains full of defense for him,
in chariOts made out of fire, wheels of
fire, dashboard of fire, and cushion of fire,
drawn by horses with nostriIs of fire, and
name of fire, and launches of fire, and
hoofs Of fire-a supernatural appearance
That could not be seen with the natural
eye. So the old minister prayed that the
young minister might see them also, and
the prayer was answered, and the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man, and he
also saw the fiery procession, looking
somewhat, I suppose, like the Adirondacks
or the AIIeghanies in their autumnaI re-
splendence.
Many young men, standing among the
most tremendous realities, have their
eyes half shut or entirely closed. May
God grant that my sermon may open wide
your eyes your safety, your opportunity
and your destiny.
A mighty defense for a young man is q
good home. Some of my hearers look back
with tender satisfaction to their early
home. 1t may have been rude and rustic,
hidden among the hills, and architect or
uph OlsteTer never planned or adorned it..
But all the fresco on princely walls never
looked so enticing to you as those rough
hewn rafters. You can think of no park
or arbor of trees planted on fashionable
country seat so attractive as the plain
brook that run in front of the old farm
house and sang under the weeping will
lows. No barred gateway adorned with
statue of bronze, and swung open by OBJ
sequious porter in full dress, has half the
glory Of the swing gate.
Many of you have n second dwelling
place, your adopted home, that also is sa-
cred forever. There you built the first
family altar. There Your children were
born. All those trees you planted. That
room is solemn, because once in it, over
the hot pillow, tapped the wings of death.
Under that roof you expect when your
work is done to lie down and die. You
try with many words to tell the exceIlency
of the place, but you fail. There is only
one word in the language that can de-
scribe your meaning. 1t is home.
Now, declare it, that young man is
comparatively safe who goes out into the
world with a charm like this upon him.
The memory of parental solicitude, plan
ming and praying, will be to him a shield
and a shelter. never knew q man faith
full both to his early and adopted home,
who at the same time was given over to
any gross form of dissipation or wicked
ness. He who seeks his enjoyment chiefly
from outside association, rather than from
the more quiet and unpresuming
pleasures of which I have spoken,
may be suspected to be on
the broad road to ruin. Alb
sol a6 faf
you know his history of sin and his death
of shame If you seem unnecessarily isO-
lated from your kindred and former asso-
ciates, is there not some room that you can
call your own? Into it gather books, pa
peTs, and pictures, and harp. Have a
portrait over the mantel. Make ungodly
mirth stand back from the threshold.
Consecrate some spot with the knee of
payer. By the memory of other days, a
fathers counsel, and mothers love, and
a sisters confidence, call it home.
Another defense for a young man is in
dustrious habit. Many young men, in
starting upon life in this age, expect to
make their way through the world by the
use of their wits rather than the toll Of
their hands. A child now goes to the city
and fails twice before he is as old as his
father was when he first saw the spires of
the great town. Sitting in some office,
rented at $1,000 a year, he is waiting for
tie bank to declare its dividend,
or goes into the market expect
ing before night to be made rich
by the rushing up of the stocks.
But luck seemed so dull he resolved on
some other tack. Perhaps he borr owed
frcm his employers money-drawer and
forgets to put it back. or, for merely the
purpose of improving his penmanship
makes a copy plate of a merchants sig
nature. Never mind, all is right in trade.
In some dark night there may come in his
dreams a vision OF BlackwelPs Island, or
of Sing Sing, but it soon vanishes. In a
short time he viii be ready to retire from
the busy world, and with his f1ocks and
herds cultivate the domestic virtues.
Then those young men who once were his
schoolmates and know no better than to
engage in honest work, will come with
their OK teams to draw him logs, and with
their hard hands help heave up his castle.
This is no fancy picture. It is every
day life. I should not wonder IL there
were some rotten beams in that beautiful
palace. l should not wonder if dire sick
ness should smite through the young man,
or if God should pour into his cup of life
draugbt that would thrill him
with unbearabIe agony. I should
not wonder if his children should become
to him a living curse, making his home a
pest and a disgrace. / should not wonder
# he goes to a miserable grave, and be-
yond it into the gnashing of teeth. The
way of the ungodly shall perish.
Ny young friends, there is no way to
genuine success except through toll, either
Of the head or hand. At the battle Of
Crecv. in 1916, the Prince Of Wales, find
ing himself heavily pressed by the enemy,
sent word t. his father for help. The
father, watching the battle from a wind
mill, and, seeing that his son was not
wounded and could gain the day If he
would, sent word. ''No, / viii not come.
Let the boy win his spurs, for, if God will,
I desire that the day be his, with all its
bonors" Young man, fight your own
fattle all through, and YOU shall have the
victory. Oh, it is a battle worth fighting
rwo monarchs of old fought a. duel,
Charles Z. and Francis, and the stakes
were kingdoms, Milan and Burgundy.
You fight with sin, and the stake Is
Heaven or hell.
Do not get the fatal idea that you are a
genius, and that therefore there is no
need Of close application. It is here
where multitude fail. The great curse Of
this age is the gen fuses, men with enorm-
Gus seIf-c0DceIt and e-ofism, and nothing
else. ] had rather b. an OK than an
eagle: plain aud piCdding and useful,
rather than high flying and good for moth
ing but f0 pick out she eyes Of carcasses.
Extraordinary capacity without use is ex-
traordmary failure. There is 20 hope for
that person who begins Ife resolved 60
live by his wis., Tor the probability IS he
has not any. It was not safe for Adam,
e~un in his unfalen state, to have moth =
iug TO do, and therefore God commanded
him TO be a farmer and hortieulturist He
wa 20 dress the garden and keep il, and
g.ts q Il ~arrs I'm
junction and been at work they
rould not have been EaunterinE under
the trees and huug=ring after that fruit
whfch destroyed them and their pOsterity
proof positive For AL ares to come that
those zbo d. uot attend q their business
are sure to set into mischief. do not